Solar

While I certainly welcome lower-cost solar panels, and would most certainly include solar power when I own my off-grid homestead, I am deeply concerned about the tens of thousands, and soon to be hundreds of thousands of acres of land being developed for industrial solar farms across the state. Information both on solar farms and smaller, more appropriate uses of solar technology.

The Push To Turn NYC’s Polluting Peaker Plants Into Publicly-Owned Solar Power – Gothamist

The Push To Turn NYC’s Polluting Peaker Plants Into Publicly-Owned Solar Power – Gothamist

Looming over a playground in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Queens stands the enormous Ravenswood Generating Station, the 23rd largest power plant in the country. Its functions are to operate as a fossil fueled peaker plant, providing an extra surge of electricity during ‘peak times’ of high energy demand, such as when everyone turns on their air-conditioning during a heatwave.

While peaker plants were originally intended to only be used once or twice a year, they now run in New York City on a more regular basis to meet the city’s growing energy demands, particularly in the evening when more lights and devices are turned on. If one spends some time by a peaker plant they may feel a little nauseous. They may feel worse if they reside near one.

Monster CNY solar farm would replace corn and soybeans with power for 30,000 homes – syracuse.com

Monster CNY solar farm would replace corn and soybeans with power for 30,000 homes – syracuse.com

I think if you look at the environmental impact of many of these large scale renewable projects natural gas is a much less polluting source of energy than large scale solar. We should be working to improve efficiency of existing gas plants and improving pollution controls on legacy facilities rather than building industrial solar facilities.

Monster CNY solar farm would replace corn and soybeans with power for 30,000 homes – syracuse.com

Monster CNY solar farm would replace corn and soybeans with power for 30,000 homes – syracuse.com

CONQUEST, N.Y. – Imagine every inch of the New York State Fair covered with solar panels. Now double it. That’s the size of a solar farm that developers hope to build in Cayuga County.

The proposed facility in the rural town of Conquest would contain hundreds of thousands of solar panels spread across 2,000 acres, or more than three square miles.

A 200 MW nameplate solar farm on 2,000 acres of land is absurd compared to what can be done with fossil plants with a much lower environmental impact. Burning natural gas produces carbon dioxide, but the impact on the climate is small compared to the vast industrial impacts of solar.

Maybe there an upside to President Trump blocking New York from tinkering with it's ISO rules to ensure that solar farms have access to the grid. If he's re-elected, projects like this might be forever stillborn, as nobody will finance a power plant where there is no guaranteed market for the power produced.